How to bond fiberglass to fiberglass?

[blau911]

Hi,
I have a repro fiberglass early 911S front spoiler that I am planning to use at some point. It came without the mounting brackets already mounted on. There are 4 fiberglass mounting brackets, and I have measured and mark them so I know where they go. The question I have is how do I go about mounting the brackets securely to the spoiler so I can mount the spoiler securely to the front of my car?
Is there a fiberglass glue, or some other adhesive or bonding agent I can use?
Thanks for any help.

[GaryR]

3M Panel bonding adhesive should work.





Automix™ Panel Bonding Adhesive

[MarKoBrow]

West System Epoxy with their Structural filler will give you a permanant result.

[nineball]

i always use fg to bond fg. rough it up with some 40 grit sandpaper and then lay down a few layers to bond them together. you could go the easy route and just use some duraglass but i would not rely on that alone. i use it as the first "filler" coat over my glass when it's done.

[tevake]

Marine tex epoxy putty. easy to use, very workable thick consistancy. about 30 min working time
. sandable tho very hard when set up. Do rough the areas as nineball sugested. comes in white and black. wear gloves while mixing and appying

[James Brown]

Could not believe the title when I first read it! fiberglass IS a glue, like saying "got anything that will glue RTV to RTV?" But then I thought about it and figure you never worked with fiberglass.
This is the coolest stuff you can play with legally. you can build a simple form, add some auto wax to it, pore on the mixed resin, lay in the glass mat or roving, slather on some more resin, let it dry and pop it out of the mold. WALLLLA, a cool, lightweight part is made. And you can make a ton of the same thing. Oh, and yes, fiberglass sticks to clean fiberglass. the West system is good but expensive catering to those boat types. Bondo makes a small kit with everything in it for about $15 bucks, more than enough for your needs.

[John W.]

A materials expert told me the three most important things on bonding are surface prep., surface preap. and surface prep. Get both surfaces good and clean and rough them up some like the others mentioned. Good luck.

[James Brown]

You are a wise sage John W.

[nineball]

i would stay away from the bondo brand products. they contain a high amount of wax which is not good while building up layers. any boating supply store should have a decent brand of resin.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

both the West Systems product and the 3M panel bonding adhesive are good choices. Clean both surfaces with acetone, scuff, clean with acetone, clean with acetone again, let dry for an hour, apply epoxy to both surfaces, clamp and leave alone for 24 hours+

What I like about the 3M panel adhesive is that it cures with a tiny amount of flexibility to absorb vibration. This is important in low surface area bonds where fracture is possible in harder epoxies.

[proffighter]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

...Clean both surfaces with acetone, scuff, clean with acetone, clean with acetone again, let dry for an hour, apply epoxy to both surfaces, clamp and leave alone for 24 hours+

What I like about the 3M panel adhesive is that it cures with a tiny amount of flexibility to absorb vibration. This is important in low surface area bonds where fracture is possible in harder epoxies.

That's the way to go! I often had to glue fiberglass. To improve results, you can mix some short fiberglass shreds into the epoxy, so you get a better chaining and also it will be more viscous and therefore easier to work with.

The aerospace way is about 20% improved: Cleaning with acetone, then etching instead of grinding and finally gluing using epoxy with a layer of a specific perforated rubber between.

I used some of this rubber too (a friend works at a aerospace company) and it is really amazing, how much a bit of rubber can change.

Best you ask a fiberglass company for. (little tip: I know, some handcrafted snowboard producer use this rubber too to connect the steel edge with the fiberglass...)

Here you'll find a lot info too (English version):

suter swiss composite group